APC governors confuse over Buhari’s stance on the presidential consensus candidate

There was confusion among the governors elected in the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on selecting the party presidential candidate.

Newsflash Nigeria had reported that President Muhammadu Buhari met the APC governors on Tuesday and solicited them to support him in selecting his successor that is capable of driving their visions as well as the ideals of the party.

“In keeping with the established internal policies of the Party and as we approach the Convention in a few days, therefore, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the Governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023,” the president said at the meeting which was also attended by the APC national chairman.

Mr Buhari told the governors that he realises the ‘compelling need’ for him to provide ‘stronger leadership to the party under this transition process.’

The stronger leadership, Mr Buhari said, is not only to ensure that APCs electoral fortunes improve but also to ensure that the party ‘retains power at the centre’ by winning the presidential election.

At the meeting with the governors, Mr Buhari also stated the factors he would consider in supporting a presidential candidate among the 25 persons seeking to fly the APC flag.

“Our objective must be the victory of our party and our choice of a candidate must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections,” he said.

The APC governors convened the meeting to discuss the stance of President Muhammadu Buhari on the party’s presidential candidate but ended in a deadlock.

The meeting was held in Abuja, minutes after the APC governors had a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

READ ALSO: Fayose speaks on Atiku’s emergence as PDP’s presidential flag bearer

The governors were confused about where the party to be zoned the presidential candidate in order not to lose the general election.

Recall that the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party had picked the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, from the northern part of the country.

Newsflash Nigeria learnt that Atiku Abubakar emerged as the presidential candidate of the PDP on Sunday, having clinched the ticket also in 2019.

The Adamawa born politician defeated 12 other candidates in a keenly contested presidential primary held at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.

Of the 764 accredited ballots at the election, Mr Abubakar polled 371 votes while his closest challenger, Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, came second with 237 votes.

The confusion of APC governors is based on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his emergence as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate.

The source said many northern APC governors, however, argued that no southern governor could defeat Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, in the presidential election; so the north should be given preference.

This angered some southern governors.

Some of the southern APC governors also argued that the nominees do not have to be state governors. This position is believed to have been pushed by governors loyal to some southern presidential candidates such as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu.

Since the governors could not agree, the meeting ended in a deadlock.

The APC will hold the party’s presidential primary from June 6 to 8.

Meanwhile, the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, in an interview on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today monitored by Newsflash Nigeria said that President Buhari did not disclose his preferred aspirant but outlined qualities the APC presidential candidate must have.

Sule, while fielding questions from Channels Television said, “The President mentioned that our consensus candidate or our candidate to be selected must be somebody (who is) acceptable to Nigerians; somebody who understands what the APC is all about and what the APC is after.

“And he mentioned clearly that it is somebody that will go to every part of the country and be accepted.

“We must bring somebody that can win an election and be able to sustain all the good things that the APC has done. So, that is exactly the definition of the President. But if you are looking for a name, the President didn’t mention a name and neither did anybody mentions a name.

“So, he gave us that in a plug and allowed us to think of the right person in these few days while he is in Spain. So, when he comes back, then everybody can say, ‘Okay, we have thought about it and we believe in who is going to be president.’”

Confirming that Buhari asked the governors to go and think about the right candidate for the party, Sule said, “He just told us his dream of who would be president That is it. ‘My dream of who would be president is this and I am also going to consult with other stakeholders, not just the governors; I am going to consult with other stakeholders and the aspirants themselves. At the end of the day, we must remain a united party.’ I think that is just the view of the President.”

The governor, however, said the governors would only discover who fitted Buhari’s description after they had thought and met on the choice of a candidate for the APC. Sule also said he agreed with the President on the approach.

When reminded that Buhari once said that he had a favourite among the presidential aspirants in the APC, Sule stated, “At our meeting, he didn’t say that. At our meeting, he didn’t say ‘I have somebody,’ he just said that, ‘We as a people, as the APC, should come up with a person who has this, this and this.”

The governor noted that while it did not look to him that Buhari had a preferred candidate, it appeared that the President wanted the governors to collectively choose the right person.

Sule also noted that there would be a series of meetings before the national convention of the APC scheduled for next week, where the ruling party is expected to elect its presidential candidate at the primary.

“That period is a period of a lot of consultations and I don’t think it is a situation where the President would just say that ‘this is the person, take him or leave him.’ I don’t think it is going to be that,” he said, adding that if it was going to be like that, Buhari would not have called for consultations.

The President had in an interview with Channels Television in January said he had a preferred presidential candidate but he would not reveal him.

Also, his media aide, Mr Femi Adesina, in an interview with Channels Television on May 12, stated, “In a previous interview when the President was asked whether he had a favourite candidate, he answered yes; but he would not mention him because mischief might happen to that person.”

Although the President had kept his preferred aspirant to himself, contestants including the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, informed him of their intention to contest the presidency.

Besides the three chieftains, others vying for the party’s presidential ticket include a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio; former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu; a former Imo State governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha and former Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

Others are Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Cross River State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade; his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr Kayode Fayemi, an ex-Minister of State, Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani; Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello; Jigawa State governor, Mohammed Badaru and former Zamfara State governor, Senator Ahmed Yerima.

Also on the list are Senator Ajayi Borroffice; the only female aspirant, B. Uju Kennedy Ohanenye, Pastor Nicholas Felix Nwagbo; former Speaker of Representative, Dimeji Bankole; President of the Senate, Dr Ahmed Lawal; former Minister of Information, Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu and Mr Tein Jack Ric.

After two postponements, the ruling party began the screening of its presidential aspirants on Monday when aspirants including Tinubu, Umahi, Nwajiuba, Ondo-North lawmaker, Boroffice, Bakare and Ohanenye, were screened by a committee headed by a former National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odige-Oyegun.

Meanwhile, the six-member presidential committee screened Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River, his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello, and former Governor Godswill Akpabio.

Others screened were a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; oil magnate, Tein Jack Rich; Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti; and a former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu.

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